BLADDER & BOWEL ISSUES
One of the most common, but definitely not normal, problems we treat is bladder leakage, also known as urinary incontinence. It’s a super frustrating problem to have, and many women can experience leaking even if they didn’t have a baby. Some people leak when they cough, sneeze, laugh, or jump, and this is called stress incontinence. Other times, the leaking occurs when you hear running water, or you're trying to race home to get to your own toilet and then leak before you get there. This is called urge incontinence.
If you sustain a large tear after a vaginal birth, sometimes bowel incontinence can occur, if the tear involves the muscles around the anus. This can look like having difficulty with keeping clean and feeling like you always have to wipe, even if you didn't have a bowel movement. We can help by checking the muscles in the pelvic floor and rectum to see what is causing the bowel leakage.
With men, we often see issues like inability to get the stream of urine started, feeling like its difficulty to get all the urine out, and leaks after you thought you were done with urinating! Men and women can also have issues with constipation that can be related to a tight pelvic floor or abdominal wall. We work on movement techniques like abdominal massage, pelvic floor release, and exercise to get the bowels moving again!
In pelvic floor therapy, we determine if the pelvic floor muscles are weak, tight, or a combo of both. When the pelvic floor muscles are weak, they don’t have the tension or ability to close off the opening where your pee comes out (urethra). Then, you would require a strengthening program to get them stronger so you no longer leak! However, most often we find areas of tightness or muscle tension that we need to release first. Think about your pelvic floor like a trampoline. It needs the perfect amount of tension to support your organs and close off the openings to hold in pee and poop. When your pelvic floor is under more tension or tight, a little extra pressure from a cough, sneeze, or laugh will cause leaking to occur.
So now you may ask yourself, how do I know if my pelvic floor is tight or weak? That’s when you need a specialized evaluation of your pelvic floor muscles and get you on the right program!
We have a proven Movement Physio and Wellness 3-Step Method to help get rid of your bladder or bowel leakage for good. The 3-Step Method works in three phases: Elongate, Elevate, and Empower.
ELONGATE.
We need to calm down the nervous system in order to reduce your pain and length tissues that are tight. We do this by incorporating breathwork and hands-on manual therapy techniques to get your muscles to relax. (Visits 1-4)
ELEVATE.
Once the tissues are calmed down and your pain is reduced, we will work on the brain to muscle connection and re-educate the muscles to fire the correct way. (Visits 5-8)
EMPOWER.
We work on functional strengthening of the muscles to help keep you strong and prevent this problem from returning again. We make sure you have all the “tools” in your “toolbox” so you feel empowered to take care of your body so you never experience this problem again! (Visits 9-12)